Page 1 of Commander

Chapter One

Fifteen years ago

“What doyou mean it’s over?” The devastation on Ashur Kumar’s face ripped my heart to shreds.

He stood against the shadow of the setting sun in Houston’s Memorial Park. The trees protected us from the sweltering August heat, but my body shook as if chilled to the bone.

Wrapping my arms around myself, I continued with the words that would damn me for the rest of my life. The words that would irrevocably break two hearts forever.

“Exactly what I said. You had to know this wouldn’t last beyond the summer. I leave for Boston in a matter of days. You are going to take over your father’s company. Long-distance relationships are destined to fail.”

My throat burned as if were coated with acid.

If only I could tell him the truth. But if Ashur got one inkling that his father, Minesh Kumar, was forcing me to leave him, I wouldn’t have a future. My family wouldn’t have a future. And no matter how much I loved Ashur, I couldn’t sacrifice my parents. They were good people who worked hard but hadn’t been born with a silver spoon.

Men with money and power held all the cards, and those of us without means had no choice but to follow along or get demolished. It had no bearing that I had scholarships for academic success. A few choice words from a wealthy donor and all my future ambitions would disappear.

I wiped the tears streaming down my cheeks.

“So, in other words, you used me. Just like Papa said you’d use me.”

What? That bastard had told Ashur this. I should have known something was up when I’d felt Ashur pulling away from me.

How could he believe I’d do that?

“No. It’s nothing like what he said.”

“Bullshit,” he snapped. “Then why are you doing this?”

“Ashu, I wish it didn’t have to be this way.”

“Did you ever love me, or was everything you ever said a lie?”

“I never lied to you.” I wrung my hands together.

“You found someone else. Admit it and make it easier on us.”

How could he believe there was anyone else in my life? He was the one and only man I’d ever loved or would ever love.

I shook my head. “No, it has nothing to do with anyone, but…”

“Papa says he has proof. I refused to see it, but now I wonder.”

Proof? What proof?

When I wasn’t working as a clerk at a local pharmacy, I was taking core curriculum classes at the local university so I could save on tuition when I went to Harvard. When the hell would I have had time to cheat on Ashur?

God, I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t lie to him this way. I had to tell him the truth.

There had to be a way to figure out how to make it through the fallout.

Dad had told me he didn’t care about the job, that he and Mom would survive without the high-salaried position. He’d said they’d move anywhere, as long as no one interfered with my dreams.

I’d been so scared about the future that I hadn’t doubted that Minesh Kumar would do something to jeopardize my enrollment at Harvard.

You are such an idiot, Tara. You walked right into his web.

“Ashu, please listen to me.”

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